Actually, bow that I think about it, it fits a bit that the lead is kind of, not boring, but a lot more low-key than the rest of characters, because it makes for a nice balance with all of the other bombastic & intense characters of the show… so Hood was a nice equalizer in the whole thing. I mean, until he started fighting of course… at that point he got super intense too =P

I liked Kai Proctor as a villain. He was of the Amish family but left and turned “extra bad”…

Kind of reminds me that some people who were once so straight and narrow in upbringing, when they rebel and go the other way, they go real wild with a vengeance worse than those who were bad all along.

Thing is, for a small town, it is so dangerous and everyone there is an MMA expert. Hood and his partners have got to be in their mid 30’s given his 15 year sentence, yet they all have the quickest reflexes, can beat up 2-3 guys alone, sharpshooters, and can heal faster than Wolverine.

Best fights in the 1st season were Hood vs. the albino, Hood vs, the MMA fighter, Hood vs. Proctor, and Ana vs. Urich. Such fight porn…

I liked Kai Proctor as a villain. He was of the Amish family but left and turned “extra bad”…

His relationship with his family was an especially great part of the show. Loved his scenes with his mother.

alx:

Thing is, for a small town, it is so dangerous and everyone there is an MMA expert. Hood and his partners have got to be in their mid 30’s given his 15 year sentence, yet they all have the quickest reflexes, can beat up 2-3 guys alone, sharpshooters, and can heal faster than Wolverine.

That’s fine though, it’s just genre convention. Think of it in the same way that in musicals, everybody suddenly breaks into song. Same thing here, only it’s brutal expert martial arts fighting.

I really think it’s badly misjudged. McDonagh has used comedy in tragic situations well before, but this time the comedy just collides very badly with, and undermines, the drama.

The film’s story also wander a bit too much. Your mileage may vary there, but for a film with such a strong, clear premise, it does still drift around a surprising amount.

I know there’s talk of a backlash over one particular character, but that’s a separate issue. I happen to agree with the criticisms of the way that character is handled, but I think the film is more fundamentally flawed.

The actors all do fine work, I can see why they’re getting awards, but the film doesn’t work for me.

The film’s story also wander a bit too much. Your mileage may vary there

I think this encapsulates well why some people liked it and some people didn’t. It feels like a story that dumps a lot of issues and characters in your lap and leaves you to decide what to make of them, and it doesn’t join everything up neatly or conclusively. I can see how that would leave people unsatisfied, even though it worked for me.

The humour/drama clash is still my biggest problem with the film, I was expecting that to work a lot better than it did, given McDonagh’s track record.

Again, that part of it really worked for me (perhaps partly because I was part of an audience that largely responded positively to it too, which makes quite a difference with comedy at the cinema). But I can understand it missing the mark for others.

It’s not a perfect film - some of the loose ends/dead ends of the story feel a bit baffling and unsatisfying - but overall it added up to an enjoyable and thought-provoking story for me.

steveuk:

My Oscar money will be on other movies.

I feel like McDormand is definitely in with a shout, but I wonder whether having both Harrelson and Rockwell in for best supporting actor might split the vote for supporters of the movie.

I know there’s talk of a backlash over one particular character, but that’s a separate issue. I happen to agree with the criticisms of the way that character is handled, but I think the film is more fundamentally flawed.

Yeah. I think the film critic Wesley Morris said that everything about it feels off, and that sums up how I felt during the movie, beyond that one character’s arc. I didn’t buy what was happening a lot of the time. I don’t need characters to act like real people all the time but here things felt off because of script problems rather than intent.

I, Tonya was pretty fantastic. I’ve heard of the story over the years, but I’d always just assumed that Harding was 100% involved in “the incident”. So it was interesting to see a different view of things. And thanks to a great performance from Margot Robbie, I came out with a lot of sympathy for Tonya Harding.

Sebastian Stan is unrecognisable from his Winter Soldier role. And Allison Janney puts in an Oscar worthy performance as Hardings absolute bitch of a mother.

If there’s one area the films falls down, I’d say it’s the skating scenes. There’s a lot of putting Robbie’s face on professional skaters bodies. And it looked weird to me. They especially undersell her big movie the triple axel. The real footage they show over the credits looks amazing. But it looks like they use CGI in the film, and its a bit clunky looking.

But it’s still a top film. I’m surprised it didn’t get a best picture nod.

Watching an episode of BBC WALLANDER where it suddenly looks like any other BBC series - very artificial and theatrical- rather than the somewhat realistically shot series it normally is. Very disconcerting.